This painting came about as the result of a trip I made with my family to the Discovery Wildlife Park in Alberta, Canada. I will never forget the awesome emotion of being so close to this huge animal that I could actually smell its fishy breath, carried on the wind in my direction. Over the last century, a bear has been the favourite cuddly toy animal for so many children. “The Teddy Bear”...named after Teddy Roosevelt, U.S. president of yesteryear and “Pooh Bear”...named after a pet bear that was Canadian but actually went to England and lived for awhile in London Zoo.

Throughout the middle years of the last century, almost every child in North America, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries had a “Teddy bear” to snuggle up to at bed time and the story of “The Three Bears” to fall asleep to. I have named this painting “Twice the Love” because this mother has to give her love to two babies and when you see her, you will sense this gentle love. You will also sense the fierce power that is so obvious in her size and her claws, for if attacked she will be prepared to defend her cubs to the death. Today the mother will keep the cubs close by; tomorrow she will let them roam further afield as they grow more and more able to fend for themselves.

One day these little ones will be as big as their mother and they will then wander off to live their own independent lives. They will then repeat the cycle by passing on the foraging, hunting, fishing and climbing skills their mother taught them. Apart from the bears, this scene contains many of my favourite elements such as grass, moss, twigs, rocks and dead leaves, all of which I will never grow tired of painting. I hope you like it.